Posts by Lucinda Secrest McDowell

The next time I blog, I will be a whole year older. It seems to happen in the blink of an eye. One day we’re young and out to change the world, and the next day we turn around and six decades have flown by while we were simply living ‘one day at a time!’…

“Mama, I got somethin’ to tell ya…” said four-year-old Maggie as she knocked on my door during naptime.  “What is it hon?” I casually replied as I closed my notebook.           “Mama, I cut off all my hair!”           And she had. Her shoulder-length bob had been turned punk-like with several…

This week we especially remember with gratitude our own mothers and we who are mothers and spiritual mothers also thank God for that great privilege and honor.  Isn’t it wonderful that God often used motherhood as a symbol for Himself in scripture? God reminded us that He too is compassionate and comforting like a mother:As…

I always wanted to be a Ming Vase for God. Beautiful. Exotic. Perfect.         Wouldn’t that be a powerful witness to my great God? Think of the people who would flock to faith once they experienced me in all my loveliness — always being, saying and doing the Right Thing!    …

 I still cannot believe what Christ did. For me. This is Holy Week. It began as Christians all around the world celebrated Palm Sunday – a commemoration of that day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to the cheers and adulation of crowds waving palm branches and singing “Hosanna! Blessed is He who…

One by one, each person around the table looked at the guest of honor and told him what they most appreciated about him. Justin usually responded something like, “Yes, I am. Thanks.” He was beaming with delight. Like his mama, encouraging words are his language of love and tonight he was feeling much loved on…

The day is wide open but I can’t seem to settle — too many distractions. No sooner have I tackled one project than another calls my name and I’m off… What are your greatest distractions? For me, sometimes it’s in the juggling of too many things at one time – which has a 21st century term…

“Arise, shine, for your light has come,    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.See, darkness covers the earth    and thick darkness is over the peoples,but the Lord rises upon you    and his glory appears over you.” Isaiah 60.1-2 NIV Blessing to Arise and Conquer Like one of the grand adventure tales, a young boy transforms from slave to saint. Patrick’s 5th century life story included…

Why are we so surprised to be living in such difficult times? Weren’t Paul’s last words to Timothy a warning of such things? “In the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents,…

We watched in horror as a herd of 200 sheep threw themselves off the cliff while Farmer Oak looked on helplessly. “Far From the Madding Crowd” — a British romance — had started off with an especially graphic pivotal plot twist. And it most certainly confirmed what I had always heard about sheep. Sheep follow the…